Social Capital

Pugnaciousness-

"I'd do better than average in a fistfight" is lower in high-social-capital states

Factors that drives the recent hyperconsumerism in the US:

- An inherent consumption bias in capitalism - Marketing, particularly that targeted to getting kids to nag parents - Wide availability of credit cards - Increasing inequality

Examples of Social Capital in action:

-Community barn raising, etc... -Good governance in Italy -Rotating credit association (works really well if you have social capital (people who work well together and trusts eachother)

Reasons for the decline:

-Globalization of corporations -Increasing work in general -Increase in women's labor force participation -Suburban sprawl -TV-rise in watching at the same time -Generational replacement

Civic Engagement:

-Individual and collective behavior targeted toward improving one's community -Conscious contributions to public goods

Social Capital:

-Investment in personal relationships that facilitate the achievement of individual or collective goals -"Capital" -"Social" -Stresses connections, trust, and reciprocity -Focus on relationships & social networks -More people we know → more social capital to facilitate our goal

Putnam's Measures of Social Capital (bowling alley):

-Trust in people in general(how much can people trust the "average person" -Participation in voluntary associations- not having to do with the workplace or the government -Informal sociability -Engagement in public affairs -Community volunteerism

Where is there a high amount of Social Capital; Where is it Lowest?

High:North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Minnesota and Iowa Lowest: South (Nevada) * Illinois is in the middle*

A positional good is:

a good whose subjective value depends on the consumption of other people. i.e. how much we like our house - we compare the size of ours' to the size of others' - this is why the rise in inequality is linked to hyperconsumerism; competition; keeping up with the Jones's

• Less tax evasions in:

high-social-capital states

Kids Count:

infant mortality rate, high school drop outs, children living in low income families, etc... -SES or financial status could be a possible third variable affecting this correlation

Which generation has the highest level of social capital?

the generation that fought in WWII

Hyperconsumerism is characterized by:

the idea that happiness depends on lots of consumption of products.

Apparent Decline in Social Capital:

• Trust has declined significantly over the past few decades in the U.S. • Including population as a whole and teenagers • Decline in amount of time people spend entertaining people at their home • Decline in amount of time people spend informally socializing • Decline in amount of time people spend formally socializing (formal organizations) (not just involvement, also attending meetings) • Increase in volunteering & decrease in working with community projects